IRELAND: The Irish Anti-War Movement has urged people to take to the streets in their thousands this weekend to protest against the Government's "gutless and immoral" approach to the Iraqi crisis.
With just 48 hours remaining to Saturday's planned mass rally in Dublin, the group's chairman, Mr Richard Boyd Barrett, said it was clear the Government now saw itself as a "junior partner" in US military aggression.
He said yesterday's Irish Times report on the crafting of Government statements on Iraq confirmed what anti-war activists had been saying, namely that the Government was "lying and hiding behind talk of international law and the UN when in fact they intend to support US warmongering regardless, and at any cost".
Former UN assistant secretary general Mr Denis Halliday criticised the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, and the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Cowen, for undermining Ireland's history of promoting human rights around the world.
Citing the work of aid agencies such as Goal, Concern and Trócaire, and diplomatic and peace-keeping efforts in East Timor and Lebanon, he remarked: "All of this is going down the drain because we have a gutless Government that does not stand up to America."
Mr Halliday said the US was "moving into a fascist mode of operations" with a "crazed president" at the helm and a cabinet of "dirty old men". Rejecting claims that he was anti-American, he noted several families who had lost people in the twin towers disaster had come out against the war and "they need our support".
As for Mr Ahern and Mr Cowen, Mr Halliday remarked: "What will they tell their children they did to prevent mass killing in Iraq and the Middle East?"
Ms Carol Fox, a US citizen and member of the Peace and Neutrality Alliance, said the US government was acting against the true principles of the US. Welcoming Franco-German moves against the war, she said the Government here would soon have to choose between the EU and US, although it had already made clear it was backing the latter "to the hilt".
She also warned that Shannon would be seeing "even more business in the coming weeks" due to the US mobilisation - for only the second time in 51 years - of its civilian reserve air flight for the transport of troops.
Mr Brendan Butler, co-ordinator of the NGO Peace Alliance, accused the Taoiseach of "fudging the issue" by saying he would come back to Dáil for a resolution on Shannon if the US attacked because the troops would already be in the Gulf by then.
"We call on the Irish Government to put moral issues above economic issues," Mr Butler added.
Mr Barrett said people should not rely on France, Russia or China to speak on their behalf. The only force which could be relied upon was the force of millions of ordinary citizens standing up and saying No.
